Where is the Money Going?

Westlands Water District says its 2007 loan to deputy general manager Jason Peltier — now at $1.57 million with a 0.84% annual interest rate — is allowed under agency rules on salary.
But experts in governance say the deal raises red flags, not just over the unpaid loan and its generous terms but over whether Peltier and Westlands complied with laws mandating disclosure of the use of public funds.
read more

The state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) said the city should have talked to unions first before ripping up their contracts at the ballot box. Prop. B substituted a 401(k) for a pension for most new city hires, excluding police officers. Those public safety workers still get a pension, but it will max out at 80% of the individual’s salary, not the current 90%. read more

Commissioner Julie Su awarded the short-haul drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation $6.9 million in a case that could have ramifications for hundreds of other drivers in similar situations. They do the work of employees, under the direction of the company, but don’t receive benefits, aren’t covered by overtime laws, have to pay both employee and employer ends of withholding taxes, aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance, and lack job security. read more

Comcast was accused of dumping personal records in landfills since 2005 without any shredding or redaction of sensitive information, including customer names, addresses and telephone numbers. The complaint was filed after a whistleblower came forward in 2010. read more

The executives who ran Countrywide Financial when it crashed and burned were not punished and now run large nonbank companies in Southern California that specialize in the low end of the housing market, like Countrywide did, according to the Los Angeles Times. They have an even larger share of the housing-loan market than pre-crash. read more

Last week, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson reduced the ceiling on the penalty prosecutors can seek at trial by half, to $565 million. The judge found PG&E’s argument compelling that it wasn’t legally appropriate for the utility to pay for a category of fines related to “gross losses” suffered by victims of the explosion. Penalties related to money PG&E made by not maintaining their pipelines remain part of the case. read more

The report held the scandal-ridden district’s elected five-member board responsible for hiring six different general managers between 2010 and 2015, losing their insurance, failing to address the district’s long-term financial viability, setting up a secret $2.75-million trust fund and awarding no-bid contracts.The state auditor suggested that the Legislature revamp the district and have the board selected by the district’s customers, 48 entities that include utilities, rather than the public. read more

The contracts stipulated that the carriers were supposed to review customer usage numbers quarterly—to determine, for instance, if they were signed up for too few or too many minutes—and automatically shift the customers into proper-fitting plans. The complaint says the companies “did not in fact provide this important and bargained for cost-cutting service as promised. Instead, they continued to falsely bill for their services as if they had optimized.” read more

Federal law (and common decency, perhaps) requires that people receiving Section 8 housing subsidies be given one-year notice of impending disaster. The notice sent to 20,000 low-income tenants telling them of a potential $104-a-month rent increase didn't mention an amount or "inform its intended recipients of the changes to the payment standard, the meaning of those changes, or, most important, their effect upon the recipient,” according to the court. read more

The report shows a steady increase in “incidents/collisions” per million miles between September 2013 and July 2015. For each of the first four months, the number was below 3. Except for a few months, the rate has steadily climbed and was over 18 most recently. Juan Matute, associate director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies, told KQED, “That would be indicative of TNCs being less safe as they scale up.” read more

This is the problem. Undertaking 21 (c) of the agreement with the state says: “For ten years following the close of this transaction, Blue Shield agrees to make annual contributions of not less than $14 million per year to the Blue Shield Foundation (or another charitable organization approved by the Department dedicated to charitable purposes.” Apparently that paragraph is more ambiguous than it seems. read more

Education Management Corporation (EDMC), the second-largest for-profit education company in the nation based on how many federal dollars they Hoover up, agreed to pay $95.5 million to settle allegations it violated several state and federal provisions of the False Claims Act by “operating essentially as a recruitment mill,” according to U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. Federal aid accounts for around 90% of the company's revenue. read more

When Freedom Communications Inc., parent company of the Orange County Register, filed for bankruptcy last week it revealed that among the debtors queuing up in line for the assets are pensioners and future pensioners at the newspaper. Former owner Aaron Kushner apparently did not make mandatory payments of $15.5 million to the pension fund and it doesn’t look certain that the government is going to bail out retirees and current employees. read more

Oakland joins a growing list of cities suing Monsanto as regulators around the nation order them to take expensive mitigating steps to shield people and the environment from this omnipresent pollutant. The State Water Resources Control Board made a recent determination that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in the Oakland’s storm drains was messing up fish and wildlife in the bay and wasn’t all that pleasing for the humans. The cleanup could cost $1 billion. read more

Stockton farmer Dino Cortopassi, who opposes the tunnel plan, paid $4 million in the effort, but says it was aimed at a much broader subject of bond indebtedness. The law already requires voters to sign off on general-obligation bonds for public works projects, which are linked to taxpayer dollars in the general fund. The initiative would extend that to big-ticket revenue bonds, which rely on independent funding, like bridge tolls. read more

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded the one-time highly-paid, 65-year-old curmudgeon $7.1 million after he sued his former employer for giving him a hard time following what was thought to be a mini-stroke on the job. Simers claimed age and disability discrimination and asked for $12.1 million after lowering his original $18-million bid. read more

Where is the Money Going?

Westlands Water District says its 2007 loan to deputy general manager Jason Peltier — now at $1.57 million with a 0.84% annual interest rate — is allowed under agency rules on salary.
But experts in governance say the deal raises red flags, not just over the unpaid loan and its generous terms but over whether Peltier and Westlands complied with laws mandating disclosure of the use of public funds.
read more

The state Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) said the city should have talked to unions first before ripping up their contracts at the ballot box. Prop. B substituted a 401(k) for a pension for most new city hires, excluding police officers. Those public safety workers still get a pension, but it will max out at 80% of the individual’s salary, not the current 90%. read more

Commissioner Julie Su awarded the short-haul drivers at Pacific 9 Transportation $6.9 million in a case that could have ramifications for hundreds of other drivers in similar situations. They do the work of employees, under the direction of the company, but don’t receive benefits, aren’t covered by overtime laws, have to pay both employee and employer ends of withholding taxes, aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance, and lack job security. read more

Comcast was accused of dumping personal records in landfills since 2005 without any shredding or redaction of sensitive information, including customer names, addresses and telephone numbers. The complaint was filed after a whistleblower came forward in 2010. read more

The executives who ran Countrywide Financial when it crashed and burned were not punished and now run large nonbank companies in Southern California that specialize in the low end of the housing market, like Countrywide did, according to the Los Angeles Times. They have an even larger share of the housing-loan market than pre-crash. read more

Last week, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson reduced the ceiling on the penalty prosecutors can seek at trial by half, to $565 million. The judge found PG&E’s argument compelling that it wasn’t legally appropriate for the utility to pay for a category of fines related to “gross losses” suffered by victims of the explosion. Penalties related to money PG&E made by not maintaining their pipelines remain part of the case. read more

The report held the scandal-ridden district’s elected five-member board responsible for hiring six different general managers between 2010 and 2015, losing their insurance, failing to address the district’s long-term financial viability, setting up a secret $2.75-million trust fund and awarding no-bid contracts.The state auditor suggested that the Legislature revamp the district and have the board selected by the district’s customers, 48 entities that include utilities, rather than the public. read more

The contracts stipulated that the carriers were supposed to review customer usage numbers quarterly—to determine, for instance, if they were signed up for too few or too many minutes—and automatically shift the customers into proper-fitting plans. The complaint says the companies “did not in fact provide this important and bargained for cost-cutting service as promised. Instead, they continued to falsely bill for their services as if they had optimized.” read more

Federal law (and common decency, perhaps) requires that people receiving Section 8 housing subsidies be given one-year notice of impending disaster. The notice sent to 20,000 low-income tenants telling them of a potential $104-a-month rent increase didn't mention an amount or "inform its intended recipients of the changes to the payment standard, the meaning of those changes, or, most important, their effect upon the recipient,” according to the court. read more

The report shows a steady increase in “incidents/collisions” per million miles between September 2013 and July 2015. For each of the first four months, the number was below 3. Except for a few months, the rate has steadily climbed and was over 18 most recently. Juan Matute, associate director of UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies, told KQED, “That would be indicative of TNCs being less safe as they scale up.” read more

This is the problem. Undertaking 21 (c) of the agreement with the state says: “For ten years following the close of this transaction, Blue Shield agrees to make annual contributions of not less than $14 million per year to the Blue Shield Foundation (or another charitable organization approved by the Department dedicated to charitable purposes.” Apparently that paragraph is more ambiguous than it seems. read more

Education Management Corporation (EDMC), the second-largest for-profit education company in the nation based on how many federal dollars they Hoover up, agreed to pay $95.5 million to settle allegations it violated several state and federal provisions of the False Claims Act by “operating essentially as a recruitment mill,” according to U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. Federal aid accounts for around 90% of the company's revenue. read more

When Freedom Communications Inc., parent company of the Orange County Register, filed for bankruptcy last week it revealed that among the debtors queuing up in line for the assets are pensioners and future pensioners at the newspaper. Former owner Aaron Kushner apparently did not make mandatory payments of $15.5 million to the pension fund and it doesn’t look certain that the government is going to bail out retirees and current employees. read more

Oakland joins a growing list of cities suing Monsanto as regulators around the nation order them to take expensive mitigating steps to shield people and the environment from this omnipresent pollutant. The State Water Resources Control Board made a recent determination that polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) in the Oakland’s storm drains was messing up fish and wildlife in the bay and wasn’t all that pleasing for the humans. The cleanup could cost $1 billion. read more

Stockton farmer Dino Cortopassi, who opposes the tunnel plan, paid $4 million in the effort, but says it was aimed at a much broader subject of bond indebtedness. The law already requires voters to sign off on general-obligation bonds for public works projects, which are linked to taxpayer dollars in the general fund. The initiative would extend that to big-ticket revenue bonds, which rely on independent funding, like bridge tolls. read more

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded the one-time highly-paid, 65-year-old curmudgeon $7.1 million after he sued his former employer for giving him a hard time following what was thought to be a mini-stroke on the job. Simers claimed age and disability discrimination and asked for $12.1 million after lowering his original $18-million bid. read more